Putin Backpedals on Baikal

by Amy Westervelt – February 23, 2010Follow Amy Westervelt on Twitter

Four years ago, after an uncharacteristically eco-friendly move to divert an oil pipeline away from the coast of Lake Baikal, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said, “If there is even the smallest, the tiniest chance of polluting Baikal, then we must think of future generations and we must do everything to make sure this danger is not just minimized, but eliminated.”

He should have added: "unless of course there's a recession."

Last month, eager to reverse the economic damage done to the small town of Baikalsk when Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill shut down and laid off 2,000 workers, Putin changed the protections governing the lake, allowing the mill to resume operations. Environmentalists who fought a tough 40-year battle to close the mill in 2008 were none too pleased. Not only is the mill up and running again, but Putin has given it a three-year pass on effluent limits to give it time to update its equipment and processes.

The biggest problem, however, may be that Putin's move threatens to revoke the lake's World Heritage status. By changing the conservation laws governing the lake, Putin is violating UNESCO policy governing World Heritage Sites.

Given that conservation of the lake has helped to spur another successful industry in the area—ecotourism—the move seems almost unbelievably short-sighted.

Thankfully, despite the government's attempts to keep the change quiet, the international environmental community has taken notice. Local group BaikalWave, which had been loudly protesting the re-opening of the mill, had its office raided and computers seized in late January under trumped-up pirate software charges, but managed to stage a protest last week nonetheless. BaikalWave and its supporters are hoping to encourage Putin to stick with the strategy of developing ecotourism in the area as a two-pronged effort that both boosts the economy and preserves the ecology.

Meanwhile, international organzations Greenpeace and Worldwildlife Fund also are putting the pressure on, gaining worldwide media attention with protests against Putin's revision of the conservation laws. Both organizations plan to ask UNESCO at the World Heritage Meeting in July to revoke the lake's World Heritage status if the mill is allowed to remain open.

Will the external pressure be enough to force Putin to reverse a favor to his billionaire pal, Oleg Deripaska, part-owner of the BPPM mill? If history is any indication, maybe. It was the threat of being put on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger in 2006 that convinced Putin to divert that oil pipeline.

Interested in learning more about Lake Baikal? If you live in the Bay Area, come check out the "Lake Baikal in Conversation and Photographs" event at the Brower Center on Thursday, co-hosted by Baikal Watch, Center for Safe Energy, and Earth Island Institute. A visting group from the area will discuss preservation of the lake and how ecotourism efforts are helping, and photographers Boyd Norton and David Maisel will share photographs of the lake.

Amy Westervelt, Managing Editor, Earth Island Journal
In addition to her work for the Journal, Amy is associate editor for The Faster Times, a columnist for Solve Climate, and contributes to an assortment of other magazines and websites. In 2007, Amy won the Folio Eddie for excellence in magazine editorial for her feature on algae as a feedstock for biofuel, which was published in Sustainable Industries magazine.

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